Seventeen brigade combat teams are placing women in combat-related jobs as part of the Defense Department’s ongoing effort to open all military jobs to women.

The BCTs — eight in the active Army and nine in the Army National Guard — will assign female soldiers to their maneuver battalions’ headquarters in military occupational specialties that are already open to women.

Women didn’t previously serve in these units — an infantry battalion, for example — because, regardless of the MOS, they were barred from being assigned to combat units below the brigade level. The Defense Department has since eliminated that rule, the Direct Ground Combat Assignment Rule, which was put in place in 1994.

These 17 BCTs received approval June 19 to assign women to their battalions, and they are the latest units to do so.

Nine active-duty BCTs began assigning women to their maneuver battalions’ headquarters in May 2012.

The 17 newly added BCTs will seek female company-grade officers and noncommissioned officers in the grades of sergeant through sergeant first class for as many as 1,700 positions.

The original nine BCTs, who have about 280 women assigned to the 750 positions that were opened, will begin assigning warrant officers and some junior female soldiers to their units, as well.

“We are utilizing a stair-stepped method to assign midgrade officers and NCOs as a cadre who are put in place first to serve as mentors and set the standard for the new Skill Level 1 and 2 positions which open second,” said Henry Minitrez, a spokesman for the Army G-1 (personnel).

The nine Army National Guard BCTs volunteered to participate, said Lt. Col. Sonja Lucas, division chief for personnel policy at the Army National Guard.

The Guard has 28 BCTs, and more BCTs will be added as the Army opens positions across the force, Lucas said.

The first report from the BCTs is due in mid-September, she said.

Once women are assigned, units will have mandatory training including equal opportunity and sexual harassment and assault prevention training.

The Guard, like the Army, does not have a quota for how many of the newly open jobs will be assigned to women, Lucas said.

“We do hope to have more than one female assigned to any type of formation,” she said. “The [Army Guard] director’s philosophy is to ensure there is no isolation. ... We’ll see how that works in the next 90 days.”

The goal is to initially assign female captains and staff sergeants and sergeants first class to these units, Lucas said. Sergeants may be considered for chaplain assistant jobs.

“The reason is level of maturity and level of experience in the Army,” she said.

Junior soldiers may be added in the future, once these more senior soldiers are in place, she said.

As women start arriving at their new units, Lucas said the Army Guard will receive a report every 90 days. The Guard also will conduct a number of surveys for feedback on the integration, how male soldiers feel about having female soldiers in their unit, how the women feel about being in those units, and how the process is working, she said.

“We want to put the best soldier forward, be it male or female,” she said.

Similar surveys also are being conducted with the active-duty BCTs, Minitrez said. The Army’s senior leaders also are speaking with commanders and soldiers during visits to these brigades to get firsthand feedback, he said.

Additional BCTs likely will be added to this effort in 2014, Minitrez said.